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New Types of Transit-Oriented
Development
High and medium density developments centered
around train stations are a new phenomenon in the
Raleigh region, and we wanted to use this opportu-
nity (the charrette was carried out 16 months earlier
than the CORE project in Chapter 7) to explain and
illustrate the potential of TODs. Accordingly, we set
out the four specific design criteria that need to be
met in any TOD design:
●
A centrally located transit station or transit stop;
●
A shopping street or streets immediately adjacent
to the station;
●
A network of connected streets that branch out
into the surrounding neighborhood(s); and
●
A variety of housing types, including multifamily.
Beyond these fairly obvious principles, important
questions needed to be answered about the character
and development potential of the site. Will the
TODs be ‘residentially-led,’ that is, designed pri-
marily around different types of housing, including
detached single-family dwellings, and with only a
small amount of service retail; or will they be
‘employment-led,’ designed mainly with office build-
ings supported by medium to higher density hous-
ing? Answers to these questions would be predicated
on the site’s location, its context and market studies
for the area. When a TOD is based on employment
opportunities, we utilize types of office buildings that
typically provide workspace for 40 to 80 workers on
each acre of developable land (100–200 workers per
hectare). This intensity of occupation works well for
suburban and infill sites that aren’t located in the city
center; in central urban areas the figures would be
higher.
These discussions about TODs automatically
cross-reference with the typology of mixed-use
centers outlined in Chapter 6, and in addition to the
criteria listed there, TODs outside the center city can
best be classified under three headings:
●
Specialized urban center
– high intensity development
with some specialized retail or employment focus;
●
Urban village center
– a medium to high intensity
development serving a mixed-use district and sur-
rounding area;
●
Neighborhood center
– a medium to low intensity
development serving a particular neighborhood.
The ‘urban village center’ and the ‘neighborhood cen-
ter’ match the same categories of mixed-use activity
centers described in Chapter 6. The ‘rural village cen-
ter’ from Chapter 6 is generally not associated with
Transit-oriented Development because the densities
involved are too low, and the ‘specialized urban center’
is simply a higher density version of the urban village
with the addition of some particular transit-supportive
characteristic of use or location.
These three types generate different development
intensities of residential density and ‘floor area ratios’
(FARs). FARs measure the density of commercial
space in an equivalent way that ‘dwellings per acre’,
or ‘persons per hectare’ gauge residential density. The
floor area ratio is the total floor area of the building
or buildings on a site divided by the gross area of the
parcel of land.
For example, if a site of 40 000 square feet
(3716 square meters) had an FAR of 0.5, the developer
could construct 20 000 square feet (1858 square
meters) of building. If this building area was organized
as two floors of 10 000 square feet each (929 square
meters), 30 000 square feet (2787 square meters) of site
area would be left open for landscaping and car park-
ing. Parking standards for typical suburban offices
require four spaces per 1000 square feet (92.9 square
meters) at approximate 350 square feet (32.5 square
meters) per (American) car. (This figure per car
includes an averaged allowance for driveways, circula-
tion, disabled spaces, landscaping areas and so forth; it
is not the actual measurement of the parking space.)
Thus our 20 000 square foot office building requires 80
parking spaces at 350 square feet each, giving a park-
ing area of 28 000 square feet (2601 square meters).
CHAPTER EIGHT
●
THE CITY
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This area fits within the 30 000 square feet available,
with some space left over for pedestrian areas at building
entrances, dumpster locations, and other miscellaneous
items. It’s also worth noting that the area for car parking
in this typical suburban example is greater than the area
of the building. If our hypothetical building had been
designed as a single-storey structure, the building and
parking would not have fitted on the site. Thus FARs
are increased in key locations not only to allow more
development, but to force buildings into more urban,
multi-story configurations.
In employment-led TODs the parking ratios
are often drastically reduced, from four spaces per
1000 square feet (92.9 square meters) to three or
even 2.5, in the expectation that many workers will
arrive by train or live within walking distance.
Architects and planners, and even some developers
would like to see these figures reduced further, but
the conservatism of lending organizations means that
finance is not easily available for developments that
do not include the conventional (i.e. suburban)
amount of car parking, or something close to it.
With all this in mind, the minimum densities we
design to for each of the different types of TOD are
set out below. The ‘core’ refers to development within
the 1/4-mile radius, and the ‘neighborhood’ that part
of the site between 1/4-mile and 1/2-mile from the
train station.
Specialized Urban Center
Core
: Residential – 22 dwellings per acre
(143 persons per hectare)
Commercial – FAR 0.75
Neighborhood
: Residential – 10 dwellings per acre
(65 persons per hectare)
Commercial – FAR 0.3
Village Center
Core
: Residential – 15 dwellings per acre
(97 persons per hectare)
Commercial – FAR 0.5
Neighborhood
: Residential – 10 dwellings per acre
(65 persons per hectare)
Commercial – FAR 0.25
Neighborhood Center
Core
: Residential – 10 dwellings per acre
(65 persons per hectare)
Commercial – FAR 0.35
Neighborhood
: Residential 6 dwellings per acre
(39 persons per hectare)
Commercial – FAR 0.15
(To put these FARs of 0.15–0.75 in perspective, a
typical floor area ratio for development in midtown
Manhattan, New York, is between 12 and 15.)